Great Completion of the Five Viscera Hundred Refinements Art

The subordinate under Yeomurin’s gaze hurried on with his report.

“It is difficult to be certain, given that Jin Somyeong’s art of disguise is anything but ordinary, but among all the information we have gathered so far, this is the most likely possibility.”

“Where did he go?”

“The last confirmed location was Binghyeon Island. He appears to be heading for Hwanmongjingyeong.”

Binghyeon Island was a tiny island in a lake north of Jungju. It lay in such a remote region that there were only so many places one could reasonably go from there. Judging by the circumstances, the odds were high that Jin Somyeong was indeed making for Hwanmongjingyeong.

“Good. I will go myself.”

If he departed now and made full use of the teleportation formations managed by Seongdo, he should be able to reach the entrance to Hwanmongjingyeong before Jin Somyeong did.

“You personally, Commander?”

“Yes. We cannot risk submitting a false report to Cheonzon, not even by the slightest chance. I will confirm at the entrance to Hwanmongjingyeong whether it is truly Jin Somyeong.”

“...Understood.”

“If contact with me is severed, assume that Jin Somyeong has dealt with me and report it to the higher-ups.”

“Yes, sir.”

Yeomurin frowned as he watched the subordinate hesitate, as though there was something more he wished to say.

“What is it?”

“I have heard that Jin Somyeong is extremely experienced in combat. Based on what we know of his disposition, he is unlikely to attack first, but... please be careful.”

“...”

Yeomurin could guess what the subordinate truly wanted to say. The order from above had been to determine Jin Somyeong’s location and no more; in other words, do not overreach.

Honestly, it wounded his pride. He was at Nascent Soul Peak, and if Seongdo gave its permission, he was confident he could attempt to break through to Deity Transformation as early as tomorrow. He was merely holding back because doing so without sanction ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠would violate the rules. All so that he might become the rightful Shinmokjiju.

Moreover, Seongdo’s cultivation arts were generations ahead of anything in the outside world. Even in the worst-case scenario, there was no way he would lose his life to some mid-stage Nascent Soul rogue cultivator.

That was what he thought, but he still nodded in silence. Taking out his irritation on a subordinate offering loyal counsel would have been disgraceful.

Somewhere over a wasteland, a flying vessel streaked across the sky like a meteor.

Only two people stood aboard the ship as it cut through the air at a speed difficult for the eye to follow. One was Jin Somyeong. The other was Ju Gwang.

“Hwanmongjingyeong is called a secret realm born from the dream of a True Immortal, and it is an exceedingly peculiar place. It is a space composed of dreams and memories. Have you heard of it?”

“Only roughly.”

When Jin Somyeong leaned in as if to listen closely, Ju Gwang nodded and continued.

“The space there is not properly established. Even a Nascent Soul cultivator will find it difficult to maintain their bearings. You cannot even tell front from back, so it is terribly easy to get lost.”

“If one cannot distinguish front from back, then how does one leave the secret realm when one wishes to?”

“By preparing thoroughly before entering, of course. You leave a marker outside the secret realm, then follow that marker to escape. That is the safest method available. If you do not...”

Ju Gwang glanced at him before finishing.

“Then you have no choice but to wander aimlessly and pray you happen upon the exit. In the truest sense, you must rely on heavenly luck.”

“Hah.”

“Do not worry too much. Getting out is not that difficult if you prepare beforehand. The true danger is becoming bewitched by the dreams Hwanmongjingyeong shows you.”

“Bewitched by dreams? What do you mean by that?”

“Once you enter, you will see countless memories and dreams, but every last one of them is nothing more than a remnant of a past that has already gone by. You cannot change them. Never become attached.”

“...Understood. But if it is impossible to even judge direction, how can we find and help Fair... Hong?”

“That is precisely why I sought you out. I told you, did I not? Hwanmongjingyeong is a space made of dreams and memories.”

“You did.”

“What matters in Hwanmongjingyeong is not physical distance, but karmic connection. Those bound by fate naturally come into contact with one another.”

“Karmic connection?”

“I do not know whether you are aware of it, but you are the only person Daoist Hong regards as her disciple. If it is you, you should be able to find Daoist Hong and bring her out.”

Jin Somyeong fell silent at the words that Hong Seol also considered him her disciple.

“Ahem. In truth, I gathered a few other cultivators who had ties to Daoist Hong as well, not just you. They will be waiting for us at the entrance to Hwanmongjingyeong, so do not be too surprised. And...”

Ju Gwang went on at length about the precautions one had to take in Hwanmongjingyeong. Jin Somyeong listened in silence for quite some time before finally nodding and speaking.

“By the way, does a secret realm truly form just because a True Immortal takes a nap?”

If so, just how high a realm was True Immortal? It was something he had wondered ever since learning about Hwanmongjingyeong.

“Heh heh. That, I do not know either. What could a mere Nascent Soul like me possibly know about True Immortals? That is simply what the rumors say.”

Fair enough.

A True Immortal was a supreme existence said to transcend life and death, sharing the same lifespan as the world itself. It was the ultimate goal every cultivator sought. Not something people like them, who had not even ascended to the Upper Realm, were qualified to discuss.

“Understood. You said it would take two years to reach Hwanmongjingyeong, yes?”

“Yes. I will call you if I need your help, so rest in the cabin.”

“Very well. Also... I would like to obtain information on fifth-grade spirit herbs through Mansumaeng. Would that be possible?”

“Fifth-grade spirit herbs? That may be difficult... but I will make a request to Mansumaeng’s main branch when we stop at the next city, just in case.”

“Thank you.”

Jin Somyeong left the deck and headed for the cabin. The spacious room, roughly eighteen hundred square feet, was filled with dense spiritual energy, making it suitable for cultivation as well.

About the level of a fourth-grade mid-tier spirit vein.

For a flying vessel rather than a fixed location, that was excellent. Even across the entire cultivation world, such a treasure would be rare. Had Mansumaeng lent this vessel to Ju Gwang?

After admiring the comfortable cabin, Jin Somyeong took out a jade slip.

This jade slip was something he had obtained long ago after asking Du Geumbo, the chief manager of Manboru. It contained information about secret realms that Seongdo had failed to control.

There are no major discrepancies.

When he compared it with what Ju Gwang had told him, there was nothing contradictory. Strictly speaking, he could not fully trust Ju Gwang, whom he had only met face-to-face a few times, which was why he had checked. At the very least, however, it seemed the man was not lying.

Jin Somyeong set down the jade slip and tapped the scabbard of his sword as he reviewed recent events.

The one who used divination on me was probably Seongdo.

Divination, one of the Hundred Arts of Cultivation, was extremely difficult to learn. Unless a force was sufficiently large, it would be impossible for it to possess a Nascent Soul diviner. That made Seongdo the most likely culprit.

I wonder how much lifespan they burned to determine whether I was alive or dead.

By the standards of a capable Nascent Soul diviner, perhaps roughly fifty years? One thing was certain: they had paid a considerable price.

Seongdo, which had gone so far as to forcefully employ divination in order to track him down. Mansumaeng, which had come seeking his help for Hong Seol. It felt as though countless karmic threads were tangling together in a complicated web.

Shrrrng...

Jin Somyeong stared at the face reflected in the mirror-bright blade, then quietly closed his eyes.

With a sword in my hand, there is nothing to fear.

It was a line he had once seen in some sword formula. He did not know why it surfaced so suddenly, but this time, it struck him with unusual force.

One year passed.

Then three more months.

One day, Ju Gwang, who was steering the flying vessel toward Hwanmongjingyeong, flinched.

Everything had been so peaceful until just moments ago that it had bordered on dull. Then, all at once, a chill ran down his spine and his mouth went dry.

...What is this?

It felt as though a monster had opened its maw right behind him. His fingertips trembled faintly beneath the nameless chill.

He was always drunk, yet for the first time in nearly a hundred years, he sobered up in an instant.

Gulp...

His neck, stiff with tension, creaked as he forced it to turn. Truly, it took all his strength just to look back, but there was nothing there. Everything was still and peaceful, as if it had only been an illusion.

But there was no way it had been an illusion. For all his faults, Ju Gwang was still a high-level cultivator who had reached Nascent Soul.

He hurriedly took a swig from his gourd to replenish the warmth of alcohol, then narrowed his eyes.

Could it be Daoist Jin?

That spine-chilling aura had unmistakably originated from the cabin. The only passengers aboard the flying vessel were himself and Jin Somyeong, so it was obvious who had caused the abnormality.

Just what sort of cultivation is he doing for an aura like that to leak out...?

Ju Gwang stared fixedly at the cabin, then let out a sigh. He understood, if only vaguely, that Jin Somyeong had, at some point, advanced into a realm Ju Gwang could no longer even measure.

When he recalled the distant past, when he had first seen Jin Somyeong at the entrance to the Red Cloud Secret Realm, he found it absurd. A peerless genius who might not be born once in ten thousand years had been right in front of him, and he had failed to recognize him.

If I had recognized him then, I would have taken him as my disciple no matter what... I envy Fairy Hong’s eye for talent.

Who could have imagined that the ordinary-looking Qi Refining brat from back then would grow to this extent? Honestly, even now, when he was seeing it with his own two eyes, it was difficult to believe...

Meanwhile, inside the cabin, Jin Somyeong was savoring the fierce, overwhelming power surging through his entire body.

At last...!

How should he describe what he felt right now?

Joy? That was nowhere near enough.

The moment the four billion proficiency required for the minor completion stage of the Five Viscera Hundred Refinements Art was filled, the art reached Great Completion. He had touched the ideal that the cultivation method pursued.

Still drunk on the lingering resonance of the Great Completion formula, Jin Somyeong exhaled a long breath.

When he tried to recall the exact instant the minor completion formula crossed the wall and ascended to Great Completion, he could not quite remember it. It felt distant, as though he had glimpsed something beyond reach.

Regret over that enlightenment gradually blurring away mingled with joy and a profound sense of achievement. Jin Somyeong clenched his fist.

What had changed?

Too much to list one by one. Yet the core change was this: every drop of blood flowing through his veins now contained his true body.

To put it simply, even if only a single drop of his blood remained, he could revive.

A truly undying body.

It meant he had obtained a monstrous degree of vitality. Unfortunately, that did not make him invincible. Naturally, such an absurd divine ability came with a price.

If he were truly reduced to a single drop of blood, it would take an enormous amount of time to recover.

It would take long enough to be almost like cultivating from the beginning again.

By his current estimate, it would require several hundred years to regain his original strength.

Of course, despite such minor flaws, it was unquestionably a powerful divine ability. After all, anyone else reduced to a single drop of blood would have died dozens of times over, while he had gained the possibility of survival.

If I use this regenerative power actively in training, my body refinement realm should grow rapidly as well.

And there was more.

There was an even better change than the regeneration that had risen to such an unfathomable level.

Had he not said that every drop of blood contained his true body?

Put another way, each individual drop of blood had become akin to an avatar.

Ting!

He squeezed a drop of blood from his fingertip and flicked it out. The instant he focused, the blood droplet, which had been flying in an arc, came to a sudden halt and began tracing complex shapes according to his will.

After watching the drop of blood swim through the air for a while, he activated the Blood Spirit Avatar divine ability. The blood droplet expanded like mist, then transformed into a human shape in the blink of an eye.

Heh.

The avatar born from a single drop of blood stared silently back at him.

Seeing that, Jin Somyeong nodded on instinct.

The energy it possesses is only at the level of Qi Refining... but it is still a Blood Spirit Avatar.

Aside from the Boundless Great Ability, it could do everything Jin Somyeong could do. It could use Condensing Light to Extinguish Dust, and it could exchange positions ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠with the main body.

He had become capable of manifesting the previously awakened Blood Spirit Avatar divine ability through drops of blood.

Wait. Does this mean that as long as I smear my blood somewhere, I can move there at any time?

Jin Somyeong quietly left the cabin and sent a droplet of blood flying outside the vessel.

The droplet fell into the middle of a barren wasteland and began to recede into the distance.

One hundred kilometers. Two hundred. Three hundred...

The flying vessel did not stop for even a moment, and the blood droplet swiftly passed beyond the range of his Divine Sense.

Can it really work?

When a Blood Spirit Avatar moved beyond the range of his Divine Sense, the consumption of spiritual power rose sharply, and the strain on his soul became severe. But the blood droplet had no such restriction.

Even after it had grown quite distant, he could still sense it. He could feel its rough distance and direction.

When he was roughly five hundred kilometers away from the droplet, he activated the Blood Spirit Avatar divine ability. It was a test to see whether he could use the blood droplet as a marker and move there.

Ugh.

When an avatar formed at that vast distance of over a thousand li, his head throbbed as though it might split apart. Communicating with an avatar outside the range of his Divine Sense was taxing, but he could endure it for a short while. He was certain he could exchange positions with it.

I should not awaken blood droplets that are too far away as avatars.

It placed dangerous strain on his soul.

Jin Somyeong pressed his fingers against the aching space between his brows and nodded. Even so, he judged that he could handle a distance roughly ten times the range of his Divine Sense.

At present, Jin Somyeong’s Divine Sense extended approximately sixty kilometers. Ten times that was six hundred kilometers. He had become capable of leaping across an enormous distance in a single instant.

Not bad.

After confirming that much, he used his subspace to retrieve the drop of blood he had left in the wasteland.

For a cultivator, a drop of blood was true blood. In other words, it was the distilled essence of one’s cultivation. Not even a single drop could be wasted.

I might even be able to use true blood like bullets...

He ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠could send blood spilled during battle flying at his enemy, then detonate those droplets with Condensing Light to Extinguish Dust. It felt as though all the abilities he had obtained through the Five Viscera Hundred Refinements Art were organically linked together.

The term Great Completion was not wasted on it.

My strength has increased as well. Should I say the efficiency with which blood energy strengthens the flesh has risen?

Jin Somyeong opened and closed his hand, gauging his newly strengthened physical power, and his eyes gleamed.

The moment he lightly thrust his fist toward empty air, a fist mark appeared on a boulder halfway up a mountain far beyond the horizon.

Excellent!

A smile rose on his face at the result, which had turned out exactly as he had intended. Neatly stamping a fist mark onto a place as distant as the horizon was more difficult than collapsing an entire mountain.

My ability to control power itself has changed on a completely different level.

The more closely he examined the changes, the more moved he became. Once he adapted to this transformation, his combat strength would rise by ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠several levels.

Quite some time later, after exploring the Five Viscera Hundred Refinements Art that had reached Great Completion, Jin Somyeong returned to the cultivation chamber.

There were still about nine months left before they reached Hwanmongjingyeong. He intended to raise his strength as much as possible in that time.